Are Online Retailers Going To Change Retailing In India ?

In the nineties when Amazon was launched during the first internet , I had a bet with a friend that the online stores would never get off the ground. I felt that people like to browse, touch and feel before they bought   and that Amazon was going to be bankrupt within a few years.

Boy was I wrong ? I lost the bet. Not only has it prospered and together with others in the online genre have totally changed not just the retail industry , but also had major impact on the publishing and music industry. Over the last few years it is now doing the same in India.

A few years ago I placed a order for a new computer for my home use,  from a  hardware vendor from whom we had been buying computers /printers for my small company. The computer was never delivered and to cut a long story short I had to write off the money which I had paid in advance. This is not the only bad experience I have had. It is always a case of once I have your money, you are at my mercy. However the online retailers are about to change all that.

This reminds me of the experience I lived through in Hong Kong. I arrived in Hong Kong in 1975. There were no retail chains and there was one major  upmarket department store. The service was terrible, particularly if you happened to be non-Chinese and even more if you were non-white.

However thing started to change with the arrival of a retail chain called Giordano, started by a maverick - Jimmy Lai, He stocked clothes which were well made at a reasonable price  and better still, staffed them with young cheerful polite staff. Gradually other chains emerged such as Join in, Espirit all with a similar service model and Hong Kong retail underwent a sea change. Of course it also helped that  since then the rest of Asia , including China, India ,Thailand etc all prospered and it was not just the Europeans and Americans tourists who had  fat pocket books.

In India, of  course money is not much of an issue but with some retailers honesty is. They will  take the advance payment and promise delivery by a certain date and rarely is it met. You have to keep chasing them and many times, it is of  sub-standard quality or not quite what was expected, but you really do not have a choice.

My daughter in New York is a big believer in ordering on-line and I could not understand why she did that.  Now after about three months of using the services of the online retailers in India,I can fully understand her preference. The first serious online retailer in India was Flipkart , now followed by slew of others including Amazon.

The best example is that of  buying books. I used to go to a book store in Delhi  and while the prices were reasonable and when physically there, the owner would provide keen service and flood me with suggestions , ninety percent of which were of no interest. However in a numbers of instances  I called his number to check about the availability of certain books and there would no response, and even where I left messages there would be no call backs. There where instances where he promised to deliver some books through his brother's store nearer where I lived and in spite of numerous calls and visits, never got the books. This in spite of the fact on every visit my family and I  would buy enough for him to stop attending to other customers and come to help us instead.

Now sitting at my desk I can order even a single book at a price almost at par, if not better delivered to my door stop on the basis of cash on delivery. If I had changed my mind about the purchase, I could return it, although I have never had to do that.

Unfortunately however  my experience of ordering an electronic item from one of the retailers from Amazon fulfillment was not a happy experience. Hopefully this is an aberration, but it would make me wary of ordering electronic items in the future.

As elsewhere Amazon is trying to break new grounds. It is reportedly  exploring delivery to the rural areas through the Indian Postal System. In the sixties the Postal System was superb, but like a lot of other institutions in India being part of the government with no accountability and life time employment, the services declined leading to a eco system of local and national couriers where people use them rather the post for normal deliveries . Perhaps if they do team up they will have to meet Amazon's delivery standard and we will see  the re-vitalization of  the Indian Post.

I wish Amazon, Flipkart, and the others all the very best  and hope they will all do a Giodarno in India. 

Is Aam Admi Going To Be The Change Catalyst In Indian Politics ?

In India it is not just start ups in IT which go viral within a short time. A new start up on the political scene the " Aam Admi Party" or the Common Man's Party which came into existence less than a year ago has shaken the political scene. It knocked out the venerable Indian Congress Party and crippled the efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party 's to obtain a majority in the most important state politically - Delhi , the country's capital, where the Congress had hoped to make a return for the third time. Their seat tally was embarrassingly reduced to a single digit number. The impact of the Aam Admi Party is such that even the heir apparent of the Congress Party Rahul Gandhi  has gone on record that he would look at following their model. 

This just confirms what I said in  my blog of October 18th*  " Looking At India Through A Glass Half Full". I mentioned that I was beginning to feel a bit more optimistic that there were changes happening and that unlike the past I felt that these changes would be within my life time.Slightly over two years ago a social activist Anna Hazare went on a fast against corruption and aroused the imagination of the nation. All the young people from across the country rallied around him. His goal was for the Government to pass an anti-corruption bill. The government asked him to break his fast with  promises that they would bring the bill to Parliament as soon as possible. However with the tacit support of the opposition parties kept watering down the initial draft and  delaying the bill  which still  has not been  passed. This affected the movement's credibility and emboldened the politicians that none of these social activists would succeed, and that they  need  not change.

The other incident which  aroused the anger of the nation against the political and enforcement agencies was the violent rape in Delhi where the concerned authorities were initially  slow to respond and highlighted the weak law and order issue. However seeing the mood of the populace , they then fast tracked the persecution of the men charged with the crime.

Sensing that the general public, particularly the urban population was fed up with the refusal of the rulers regardless of their political affiliation,  to change their way of doing business no matter what, one of Anna's key aides a former bureaucrat Arvind Kejriwal ( a Magsaysay award winner for his social work) , recognized that he would not be able to change the system from the  outside. He decided to change the system from within by joining  with other similar minded people and forming the Aam Admi Party. Their elections symbol was the broom with the obvious message that their goal was to  sweep clean Indian politics.

While starting a party is nothing unusual , as in almost every state you have strong  regional parties.As a result increasingly at the national level, political parties are becoming dependent on them to rule at the center. What was different about Kejriwal's party was the manner he went about raising the party's profile , selecting the candidates and raising funding. During the course of the last year, together with his team,  he vocally and visibly supported and drew attention to issues such as an individual's plight, or some infrastructure which was badly in need of repair or the indifference of the politicians of bureaucrats to blatant corruption.This got him the attention of the media and the populace started rallying around him.

His timing is opportune as with the gradual shifting of the population from the rural to the urban, you are seeing a rise in the numbers in not just the  metro but also the second, third and fourth tier cities. With the increasing  middle class and the lower middle class, they are also becoming more aware of their rights and become more vocal and not afraid to walk the talk.

When he announced that his party would stand for election in Delhi, people flocked to him, not just from Delhi and the surrounding areas, but from all over India and  from overseas. They volunteered their time, skills and efforts. In the selection of candidates, he chose unknown  candidates but who had clean records and who were active in their respective communities.

Unlike other political parties whose funding has traditionally been opaque , the Aam Admi Party recorded the name and details of every single donor, including those from  overseas Indians. They  also set a target of Rs.200 million. Once they reached that target, they closed their books.

For each constituency they came out with a manifesto which dealt with local issues. They campaigned hard and used the social media to the fullest extent. Their technology team of volunteers were based in Bangalore.

Arvind Kejriwal also decided to challange Mrs.Shiela Dixit in her own constituency, one of the most up market areas of Delhi. Mrs. Dixit was the the three times Chief Minister and a close confidant of the Gandhi family. Embarrassingly for her, Kejriwal won with a majority of over 20,000 votes. Overall a humiliating defeat for " Shiela Aunty" as she is popularily known and for the Congress Party.

There was jubilation across the country. The victory was significant not because that it was a new party, but the manner in which it conducted itself. The selection and the fund raising was totally transparent. There were no candidates with criminal records.Through their manifesto, they clearly defined what their goals were, if elected. What was also interesting was that because Aam Admi Party declared upfront that they would not seek the help of other parties to form a coalition, nor entice some winning candidates to switch parties, the Bharitiya Janata Party was obliged to follow suit. In the past this would not have happened.

Regretfully they did not obtain the majority , but neither did the Bharitiya Janata Party and there is a good possibility of the elections being re-held.The party has also declared their intention to establish a countrywide footprint to fight the national election  due in the first half o 2014.

The stunning success of the  Aam Admi Party has woken up all the political parties that it was not going to be business as usual this time around . The country is getting fed up with their continued inability to deliver on the promises made during election times and their unwillingness to change their habits.

Hopefully this time around the Aam Admi Party will get the majority in Delhi  to be able to prove that they know not just that they are  able to to manage a good campaign, but also how to run a clean ,competent government.Expectations are that they will go national , at least in the key states and will also  have a voice in the Parliament to speak out loud and clear against the mis-deeds of the party in power.

India will be watching  !!!!


*( http://avib-randomthoughts.blogspot.in/2013/10/looking-at-india-through-glass-half-full.html)

Nelson Mandala - R.I.P

I would like to join the thousand of others to add my few words on Nelson Mandela - in my view the greatest leader I have seen in my lifetime.

To me the greatest thing about him was his vision of the society of the Rainbow Nation which could also be the blue print of the world in general. While there have been other leaders who have suffered long , severe prison sentences and  who have fought for independence there are very few who have been able to achieve what he has .

Perhaps it is the very composition of  the South African nation where you have people of all colors, races and religions which has lead to it  becoming  the cradle for two of the greatest inspirational leaders the world has seen in the last century- Gandhi and Mandela. Both leaders showed grace in not showing enmity toward their former captors at whose hand they suffered long terms of imprisonment.  

The difference between the two was that Gandhi used the satyagraha , non violent movement to help achieve independence for India. Unfortunately some fanatics put an end to his efforts to be the moral beacon to both the newly created nations.  Mandela on the other hand was not fighting for independence but for the right for society to be treated as equal regardless of color, race or religion.

While he helped India achieve independence, Gandhi unfortunately failed  in convincing his fellow Congress party colleagues  to keep India together and lead to the creation of two nations who are now enemies. Mandela on the other hand ensured that South Africa did not go down the path of other African nations such as Zimbabwe which lead to the path of destruction. His message  to the South African population was that everyone had a right to be a South African and should live in peace and harmony.The Rainbow  was an apt metaphor for  the world's society and  his vision is something the rest of the world should aspire to.
 
The mourning or should I say  the celebration of his life  not just among the entire South African population, but around the world,  regardless of race, religion and color,  shows the  regard and affection which they had for Nelson Mandela.

Also unlike other "leaders" who assume that because of the hardships they suffered, they should be rewarded by lifetime recognition and  appointed  life time Presidents , long outliving their sell by date. Nelson Mandela served one term as President and voluntarily stepped down.This should be a role model for other politicians, leaders and dictators.

I hope the present and upcoming leaders of South Africa will adhere to the Madiba's vision , although there are already signs among the younger crop who are beginning to exercise their " right of entitlement" . It will be sad to see his  vision being lost and South Africa going the same way as other countries .

In the meantime like thousand of others I could not but help shed tears at the passing away of the world's beloved Madiba.